They Call This a Democracy

Since they know they are going to lose the election, they are trying to rig it, again:

Spain seeks to ban Basque candidates for ETA links.

Spain's government asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to bar a group of Basque candidates from standing in regional elections next month, saying they were instruments of separatist guerrillas ETA.

Documents filed with the court said the new grouping, Aukera Guztiak, was an attempt by ETA and outlawed party Batasuna to subvert bans on them running in the April 17 Basque elections.

Funny, they have been unable to finally link Batasuna to ETA, but they have proof for Aukera Guztiak.

I guess things like that happen only in countries where the presumption of innocence does not exist.

Here is what EITB says about the case:

Banning the candidates of Aukera Guztiak is unfounded-Basque nationalist parties

Josune Ariztondo, leading PNV member, said today in Bilbao the members of the Aukera Guztiak initiative maintain "all their civil and political rights" and reminded there are no penal processes against them, as it would happen if they obeyed ETA's orders.

"The prosecutor challenges Aukera Guztiak because it is controlled by ETA ... Being controlled by ETA has a certain meaning and that carries with it penal processes; it is obvious that they are not, because otherwise those penal processes would be undertaken," the member of the Basque nationalist party PNV Josune Ariztondo told state radio. "As that is not the case, they are in possession of all their civil and political rights."

As I said before, antidemocratic measures keep rearing their ugly faces in Spain's politics.

Update: Berria provides with a sampler of how convoluted Madrid can be when it comes to accusing Basque individuals and/or organizations of having ties to ETA:

ETA also behind Aukera Guztiak according to State Lawyer and Attorney General

The Lawyer of the State puts the creation of Aukera Guztiak within “a clear strategy” formulated by ETA to stand in the BAC elections. According to the challenge, ETA decided to present two lists of candidates at the same time: the Batasuna one, which would be suspended immediately, and a “clean list” made up of people who had no obvious links with ETA or with the institutions which have been outlawed. The Lawyer of the State has put forward two types of proof to support this hypothesis. Firstly, evidence pointing to political links between Aukera Guztiak and either Batasuna or ETA; and secondly, evidence reflecting personal connections between Aukera Guztiak and “the Basque nationalist left”.

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